In real time: The LSU Transition Advisory Team, a 10-member panel tasked with providing information to the LSU Board of Supervisors about reshaping of the LSU System, is live-streaming its meeting today, which began at 10 a.m. You can check out it out here. All users may enter as guests, but must have the latest version of Adobe Flash player to access the video. The team is preparing to make its first report to the Board of Supervisors on March 15. More details on LSU’s reorganization process can be found here.
Growing: Baton Rouge-based Albemarle says its Fine Chemistry Services business has approved and begun construction on an expansion of its custom manufacturing facility in Tyrone, Penn. “This $30 million expansion adds new capacity to the site for custom manufacturing projects, but more importantly, will improve the infrastructure to allow for future incremental and low-cost expansions as we gain new projects from customers,” says site manager Randy Andrews in a prepared statement. The first increment of increased capacity created by the expansion is expected to be available late in the first quarter of 2014.
Drug war: Attorney General Buddy Caldwell filed a second lawsuit against British health care giant GlaxoSmithKline on behalf of the state of Louisiana. This time, Caldwell is accusing the firm of illegal promotion of the drugs Paxil, Wellbutrin, Advair, Lamictal, Zofran, Imitrex, Lotronex, Flovent and Valtrex for off-label, non-covered uses in violation of state laws. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Baton Rouge, has been assigned to Judge Janice Clark of the 19th Judicial District Court. Caldwell first filed a suit against the company in February 2011 over its diabetes drug Avandia. That case is set for trial in June before Judge Clark. For its part, GlaxoSmithKline filed a suit last year against Caldwell, accusing him of using private plaintiff’s attorneys—including two lawyers who worked on his re-election campaign—to represent the state in its lawsuit against the firm.
